Q:

A:

We meet at Grace Baptist Church, 1899 Marietta Ave, Lancaster, PA 17603 .

Q:

A:

Directors prefer to be contacted by email at upper.tier@cornerstonehomeschoolers.com 

During co-op days on Thursdays please do NOT call the Grace Baptist Church office. Call Director Anne Flinchbaugh Richey at 717-468-5304.

Q:

A:

Please use the username and password you set up with your membership request.  If you cannot remember them, please email upper.tier@cornerstonehomeschoolers.com and we can recover the username for you and reset the password. 

Q:

A:

Classes are designed to meet the needs of most 7-12th graders. Teachers modify grading expectations based on ages of students in the class.

Cornerstone Lower Tier meets 16 Thursday afternoons and provides supplemental classes for elementary through 8th grade (nursery available). Upper and Lower Tier have different directors and operate under different requirements for teaching, monitoring, registration and various other things. For more information about Lower Tier please contact their directors at lower.tier@cornerstonehomeschoolers.com

Q:

A:

No.  Cornerstone Lower Tier meets for 16 Thursday afternoons each year and provides supplemental classes for elementary through 8th grade (nursery available). Upper and Lower Tier have separate directors and operate under different requirements for teaching, monitoring, registration, and various other things. For more information about Lower Tier please contact their directors at lower.tier@cornerstonehomeschoolers.com

Q:

A:

Types of Membership-

Participating members commit to volunteering in a variety of capacities based on each family’s class enrollment. Classes and Flex periods in the building count towards this requirement.

Two (2) volunteer units for each one semester class

OR

Four (4) volunteer units for each full year class

FAMILY MAX is 16.

Members may choose any combination of duties equal to their family’s volunteer requirement. These will be available on a sign-up genius on a first-come-first-serve basis for monitoring, pizza lunch responsibilities, set up duties before co-op begins, tear down & clean up, and vacuuming at the close of the day.

Nonparticipating Memberships (an "opt out" option) may be available for 7th - 12th grade students. This will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis until the 25 family maximum is reached. Each registering nonparticipating member will have two weeks to make the first payment. If payment is not made in that time, their students will be removed from the classes and moved to the bottom of the waiting list for nonparticipating memberships. 

All families registering for Cornerstone Participating Membership will pay a family fee of $125 ONCE, for either UT or LT, but not to both. This consists of a $50 Commitment Fee and a $25 CHALC fee and a $50 Member Fee used for the rental fees paid to the host church, the purchase of necessary equipment and supplies, additional rental fees of facilities for special events, copies, printing, administrative fees, supplemental liability insurance, and any other expenses incurred for the benefit of the group. Additional fees may be required for certain classes, special supplies, or field trips.

All families applying to be Cornerstone Nonparticipating Members will pay a family fee based on total class enrollment (Do not include Flex Periods in your class count) for the family.

• One Class - $205
• Two Classes - $275
• Three Classes or More - $325

Members may not transfer from a Participating Membership to a Non-Participating Membership after the co-op year has started.

New Members and Maximum Enrollment
Cornerstone Upper Tier reserves the right to limit the size of the co-op based upon available facilities, individual class size requirements, and volunteer commitment needs for an academic year. Nonparticipating Memberships will be limited to 25 families until the Cornerstone Upper Tier has established the enough volunteer commitment to sustain the upcoming year, at which time the leadership may increase the number of Nonparticipating Memberships. When the enrollment limit has been reached, a waiting list will be established. Families on the waiting list will be notified when an opening is available.

Q:

A:

Our Volunteers can choose to be monitors, serve lunches, tear down and clean, or vacuum. 

Monitors in general are in the talk room, study hall, or outside and all do a bit of floating in and around the building.

General Floater will be the person continuously checking the building and grounds, unless they are assigned to a particular area as a support or backup.  

Set Up Families come into Grace Baptist Church after Awanas on Wednesday night before a coop day to set up tables, chairs, bulletin boards, mailboxes, etc under the guidance of the Facilities Coordinator and with the benefit of photos and written instructions.  It is beneficial to sign up for multiple set up spots to eliminate the need for excess training. 

Lunch Servers work with the Fundraising/Lunch Coordinator.  Two (2) members share the responsibility for picking up pizza, sub or chick fil a  orders, distributing the orders, counting the money, cleaning up spills and emptying trash afterwards.  

Tear Down & Clean Positions work with all the Facilities Coordinator at the end of the day to put everything away and clean the building.  Cleaning cards will be available for guidance.   

Vacuuming Positions are available at the day's conclusion.  The Facilities Coordinator directs our volunteers.   

Q:

A:

Full year Upper Tier classes meet 30 Thursdays. One semester classes meet 15 Thursdays. Unless a class description is marked as "FALL" or "SPRING", it is a full year class. Specific dates are posted on the website calendar and also listed under Class Dates.

Special Exceptions

PSAT Math Prep meets only the first four weeks.  Other first period class instructors may make accommodations for students wishing to take PSAT Math Prep if possible. 

Optional Biology Lab meets for 12 weeks specified in the Class Description, beginning week 5 and alternating Thursdays with the Environmental Science Lab. 

Optional Environmental Science Lab meets for 12 weeks specified in the Class Description, beginning week 6 and alternating Thursdays with the Biology Lab. 

Q:

A:

Parents do not need to stay on campus unless they are monitoring.

Parents are required to monitor based on the number of classes for which the family is registered. (Year long classes = 4 monitor spots each; Semester classes = 2 monitor spots each.

PA Child Clearances are required of all monitors. Details are on our website under Clearance Information. 

You are welcome to bring your younger children with you, but be mindful of where you sign up to monitor so that the younger children don't create class disturbances. 

Q:

A:

Yes. All Cornerstone Upper Tier teachers have the required PA Child Abuse Clearances and FBI Clearances as well.

Q:

A:

Teachers provide students with a syllabus at the beginning of the school year and indicate preferred method of contact for questions that occur from week to week (ie- email, phone). Homework is given on a weekly basis and grades are assigned. 

Generally speaking, teachers modify grading expectations based on ages of students in the class.

Q:

A:

Our teachers have the freedom to choose their system of providing grades but are encouraged to use the dashboard on our website.

Q:

A:

No. There is no minimum class requirement. However, students who are not in class must check into Flex Period locations ("study hall", "talk room", or "outside").  They are also free to leave for home. 

Q:

A:

Cornerstone offers lunches as we are able. 

Generally, on the second Thursday of the month, we collect orders for a pizza lunch.

Other Thursdays, we may offer special lunches (sub sandwiches, Chick-Fil-A, etc) as we are able with our supporting member involvement.

Q:

A:

This class is unique, in that it operates as a two hour class.  There is not always a lab in the 8am portion, because weekly scheduling is up to the instructor, but all Chemistry students must sign up for the 8am Chemistry Lab and the 9am Chemistry Class.  We feel this number of hours is needed in order to cover the material and labs in the depth required to master the material.  Sometimes there is a 4 week break for the 8-9am hour towards the beginning of the year, in order to accommodate the PSAT Prep class if students in Chemistry want to take that.  Please check the class matrix for specifics.  

Q:

A:

We offer 12 week Science Labs that compliment our Physical Science, General Science, Biology, and Environmental Science classes.  These are paired, Environmental Science & Biology @8am and Physical Science & General Science @9am.  The pairs alternate weeks.  These labs may be taken as a stand alone class OR they can be taken with the corresponding class.  Special care is taken so that the labs performed in these classes work with the curriculum used in the science classes, while not repeating any labs the instructor will be doing during class time.  These lab classes do not begin meeting until the first week in October.  We contract with the Lancaster County Parks to facilitate this program.  There are strict minimum enrollment requirements.  Please check the Class Matrix for the list of meeting dates for each class. These labs are not a graded class.  

Q:

A:

Typically, directors send a weekly email newsletter on Mondays during the school year. These are also added to the calendar for easy reference. Occasionally, other important items of business may be sent separate from the usual Monday newsletter. 

The directors count on member families (parents and registered students) to read the emails and respond (as needed).

Q:

A:

New Student Orientation is scheduled to take place one week prior to the first day of classes in the fall. Please see the calendar for details. 

New families are invited to meet at Grace Baptist for the purposes of meeting the directors and other new students, to become familiar with co-op rules, and to see where their classes will meet. The meeting usually takes about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Attendance is not mandatory but is highly encouraged.

Q:

A:

Yes! Upper and Lower Tier both have an Open House & Learning Fair on the first Thursday of March. Come and see what our current students have been up to this year and what our teachers will be offering next year. Please see the calendar for details.